Backbone: Can't access 'this.model.*' in view - backbone.js

Question

I'm new to Backbone and struggling with what appears to be a basic problem. I have a route set up to take in a parameter, use it to locate a model (hard-coded at this point), and render the model data in a view.
Working with a parameter of "project1", in the render function of my view I can access this.model and project1.attributes and project1.get('name') but I cannot access this.model.attributes or this.model.get('name') or use this.model.toJSON(). (Note: trying to access any of those latter ones causes the app to bomb.)
Is this a "this" bind problem? Any help is appreciated.
var Router = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"work/:project" : "project"
},
project: function (project) {
$('#content').html(new ProjectView({model:project}).render().el);
}
});
var ProjectView = Backbone.View.extend({
id: "project",
render: function () {
$(this.el).html(this.template(this.model.toJSON()));
return this;
}
});
var Project = Backbone.Model.extend({});
var project1 = new Project({
name: "Project1",
description : "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat."
});

Answer 1

As the comments have already mentioned, your basic problem is that you're passing a string to a View, but that View is expecting a Model. This line:
$('#content').html(new ProjectView({model:project}).render().el);
Is the problem: project needs to be an instance of Backbone.Model, but it's not. That line should instead look something like this:
var project1 = new Project({
name: "Project1",
description : "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat."
});
$('#content').html(new ProjectView({model: project1}).render().el);